Monday, November 27, 2006

It is still hard for us to recognize the holiday season as the weather doesn't change much. But this past Thursday we gathered with about 50 others at the school for a staff Thanksgiving potluck. It was great fun and included lots of good food, all the usual Thanksgiving dishes. To top off the day, we even had a huge downpour to make us feel like we were home in the northwest!

On the other hand, it is easy to know that the holiday season is upon us, everything is getting busier! We are looking forward to Christmas parties on each of the next two Saturdays and to family camp with our church the third week of December.

During this holiday time we want to thank you all for your continued support for us, both by prayers and finances. We couldn't do what we are doing without your help!

Please pray with us that we might be a light during this holiday season as many of the people here have no idea what Christmas is really for, but are willing to listen and ask questions about it. Pray also for these last three weeks at ICS before Christmas break. Many students will be leaving at the end of the semester, so these last weeks are the last chance we have to show them God's love.

Aaron has been a little sick the last few days (a runny nose). He is getting better, but please pray for continued healing for him.

A couple weeks ago we were spending some time at VivoCity, eating lunch and were approached by a guy with a camera, he asked to take some pictures of our son, we agreed. He recently emailed us these photos.

This is actually the second time we've had someone approach us to take photos of Aaron. We're still hoping to receive an email from the other photographer.

We thought we would share with you a narrative of our date on Saturday to give you a picture of our everyday life that we often take for granted.

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to go disc golfing, a new acquaintance has a set of portable baskets that he sets up occasionally at a local park. He was planning to set them up this Saturday. We were able to arrange for a friend from church to watch Aaron while we went out. So, we started our date at about 12:45 when we loaded up Aaron and his diaper bag and headed to catch bus 855. After about a 15-minute ride we got off and walked the final 10 minutes to Isadora's house (on the 12th floor of her apartment building). By this time, the rain was coming down rather hard, so we got directions to the subway (MRT). We got on bus 63 and rode for another 15-minutes to Tiong Bahru shopping center where we had lunch (Betsy had KFC, Danny had Char Siew Roasted Pork). Next we went downstairs to get onto the East-West line MRT. Three stops later we transferred to the North-South line and rode to the end of the line, Marina Bay. To get to the park we needed to catch a bus, unfortunately I directed us onto the 402 instead of the 400. It was now a little after 3:00. We reached the end of the line for the 402, so we got out and walked back toward the park. The rain was starting to let up now and we were hoping that the disc golf hadn't been canceled, I sent an SMS (text message) to our friend and found out that it had indeed been canceled.

Our friends were still watching Aaron, so we decided to head back toward VivoCity (the new mall near our home). After walking for a while we were able to get onto the 400 to return to the MRT. We rode the North-South line for 1 stop, transferred to the East-West line for 2 stops, then transferred again to the North-East line and rode for one more stop to arrive at HarbourFront. We walked out to the dock to see the MV Doulos which is in port. The Doulos is an international ministry ship that travels around to different ports with a huge bookstore, it also does missions with churches. We went on board and found a bunch of books for Aaron for Christmas. Now it was dinnertime so we went to Subway for dinner. 5:30 now and time to go get Aaron, so we got on bus 855 again. 20-minutes later we had another 10-minute walk to get Aaron. Now we only had to return to the bus stop, catch the 855 again, and we were home! Unfortunately it was a 20 minute wait for the 855 this time and we arrived home at about 7:30. It was a crazy day, but it was fun, and all in a day in Singapore!